You need 4 players to start a Tournament game.

Only 2 computer players are allowed.

Mega Byte joined the game in slot 1

Peener visits

Mega Byte: G'day

Mega Byte: Jump in.

cyounghusband visits

cyounghusband joined the game in slot 2

cyounghusband: back in 6 mins, kick me if you lose patience

Mega Byte: Hey CY

Mega Byte: Good to have you on board.

Mega Byte: We need 1 more, so 5 min should be ok

Mega Byte: Peener, you going to join in ?

Mudd visits

Mudd joined the game in slot 3

Mega Byte: CY you back?

Mega Byte: Hi Mudd

Mega Byte: Where you from?

vexorg visits

vexorg joined the game in slot 4

vexorg: hi

Mudd: SC, but vacationing in cold MN

Mega Byte: Hi Vexorg

Mega Byte: Cool.

Mega Byte: We have one player in who has stepped away for 2 min.

Mega Byte: If he's not back, I'll boot him, and we'll get on with it.

vexorg: k

Mega Byte: Where you from Vexorg?

vexorg: Virginia

Mega Byte: Cool.

Mega Byte: I'm in Tokyo, so if your ping is a little high, it's fine.

vexorg: np, I love international games

cyounghusband was kicked

Mega Byte: Peener, spot open i fyou want it.

Mega Byte: We're ready.

Mega Byte: You guys want a real player, or an AI?

vexorg: hit 'j' peener

Mudd: I'm ok either way

Mega Byte: Vex? AI or wait?

vexorg: give peener a sec, then go ai

Mega Byte: I'm fine either way too.

Mega Byte: Ok.

Mega Byte: Peener...

Mega Byte: Maybe he's stepped away too.

vexorg: k

Mega Byte: Just popped out to loby, made another apeal for players.

Peener was kicked

cyounghusband visits

cyounghusband joined the game in slot 2

vexorg: sweet

Round 1 of 12

Mega Byte: Hmmm

Mega Byte: Thought there weren't supposed to be any neg events in the first turn...

cyounghusband: i've seen that before...

cyounghusband: the release notes seem to lie

vexorg: did that wrong

cyounghusband: yah, thought so

vexorg: I'm very rusty

Round 2 of 12

Mudd: ahhhh!

vexorg: much better with humans

Mega Byte: haha

cyounghusband: @!$

vexorg: bummer

cyounghusband: i was almost tempted not to go in to the pub as I had the most time and would probably be in first...and didn't want to be

vexorg: they used the same style sprites as the old game

Mega Byte: Wow... that was the luckiest turn EVER...

cyounghusband: yes, it's an excellent recreation

cyounghusband: pub!

vexorg: gar

cyounghusband: they've just missed a couple of annoying gameplay issues

vexorg: how many old farts here?

Mudd: played mule in college in the 80s

vexorg: same here.... old fart

cyounghusband: heh, not that old

Mega Byte: 41

Mega Byte: :)

vexorg: middle aged fart

vexorg: 42

cyounghusband: i played it when I was like 12, i guess that would make it mid-eighties

Mudd: 43

cyounghusband: 35

Mega Byte: CY you are YOUNG

Mega Byte: :P

Round 3 of 12

vexorg: we are poor

vexorg: and we are contemporaries

Mega Byte: Indeed :)

cyounghusband: how's toyko treating you in the new year MB?

Mega Byte: Excellently.

vexorg: expat in JA?

Mega Byte: Been in the 50's here this week. (10c -12c)

Mega Byte: Yup

vexorg: excellent, visit there once inthe Navy. Loved it!

Mudd: swell

Mega Byte: That's bogus

cyounghusband: we've had 10-12 cm of snow in the last day here...

Mega Byte: Better than losing a plot though

cyounghusband: the plot loss in rounds 1-3 is so evil it should be prohibited

Mega Byte: Yeah

Mega Byte: I think it should be out all together.

vexorg: still needs some tweak

Mega Byte: Even 25 years ago I thought it was a game imbalancing activity.

vexorg: true, but it still sucked you in

Mudd: /i lose a lot of mules through stupidity

Round 4 of 12

cyounghusband: vexorg, you are making some odd plot choices... the plots produce better ones of the same type are adjacent

vexorg: my colorblindness hurts my strateegery

cyounghusband: the plot selection in multiplayer is too ping sensitive, they need to slow it down or something

cyounghusband: also the lower ranked players are supposed to win out ties, but Mudd beat me to the one I wanted so not sure if that's a bug or what

Mudd: yeah, i was suprised

Mega Byte: Ouch

cyounghusband: yeah, find that annoying actually

Mega Byte: Vex, press your button

Mega Byte: Makes production animation stop

Mega Byte: And just populates everyting

Mega Byte: Game goes a lot faster that way

Mega Byte: TY

vexorg: rgr

cyounghusband: Hey MB, did you know that quakes can sometimes move mountains? I just saw that last game

Mega Byte: Yeah

Mega Byte: Lost mules because it in one turn, when 2 mountains moved...

Round 5 of 12

cyounghusband: so you guys would be old enough to remember the energy crisis :)

Mega Byte: all too well

vexorg: just barely, but yes

cyounghusband: (we have one this round)

Mega Byte: Indeed.... :(

vexorg: her it comes

Mega Byte: Could have been worse.

cyounghusband: yeah, no spoilage helped

Round 6 of 12

Mega Byte: All yours...

Mega Byte: :)

cyounghusband: i'm still convinced that as a youngster this game taught me more about economics than high school did

vexorg: you are prbably right there

Round 7 of 12

cyounghusband: man MB, you have the smithore and land thing going on

Mega Byte: I try hard.

Mega Byte: What I need now is a good ol' fashioned store burning...

vexorg: good move

Mega Byte: Bugger

Mega Byte: That was a gmable, but we'll see if ti worked...

vexorg: good price

cyounghusband: AFAIK, the price goes between 50 and 148...the computer will sell at 96, the median price

vexorg: nice

Round 8 of 12

Mudd: ore prices go up to 230

cyounghusband: ah, if I can't get it no one will...

cyounghusband: this is something else they should fix

vexorg: pretty good

vexorg: yea, there should be a penalty for that

Mega Byte: Actually, a tried and true part of the original game....

cyounghusband: if you overdrive the price, you should be committed to buy it

vexorg: aye

cyounghusband: doesn't mean it makes any sense or is good

Mega Byte: Sorry, there are worse things you can do to players, which I prefer not to do.

Mega Byte: At least this way, all plots are producing.

cyounghusband: still amazing the quality of software they used to produce, back when they couldn't just issue patches...now you buy a brand new game on the first day of sale and the first thing you do is download a patch

vexorg: sorry

Mega Byte: Its all good

cyounghusband: ?

vexorg: curveball

Round 9 of 12

cyounghusband: damn!

vexorg: and dang

cyounghusband: i hate this plot selection thing

cyounghusband: instead it gives me the one _after_ the one I want

vexorg: but part of the game, especially at the end

cyounghusband: really pisses me off. I always have a backup plan if I can't get my first or even second choice, but I hate getting one you really don't want

cyounghusband: this will be a big difference maker in the game

Mega Byte: I have 3 isolated plots, to by accident too... :(

Mega Byte: So I understand your frustration.

Mudd: somebody get rid of the mules

Mega Byte: CY, welcome to first place. :)

Mega Byte: Better you than me...

cyounghusband: but you are outproducing...

vexorg: jackpot

Mega Byte: But I think right now, you will win this one. (My prediction)

cyounghusband: i'm betting the game will be yours

cyounghusband: ha!

cyounghusband: I took a split crysitite / smithore approach

Mega Byte: Yeah, but we're only just getting control of the market

Mega Byte: Later than I would have liked.

Mega Byte: Bah

Mega Byte: :(

Round 10 of 12

vexorg: blegh

vexorg: ???

Mega Byte: Dump the extra mules if you want 230 SO price...

cyounghusband: (which favours the biggest producers...ugh..you...)

vexorg: cool

Mega Byte: Well, you have a hearty stock too... I went to almost 0 to get the ore price up.

vexorg: and... ugh, me

Mega Byte: But, it might be enought to carry you for a turn...

cyounghusband: not relatively, MB has at least twice the smithore production that you do

Mega Byte: But yes, admitadly, it will help both us, maybe me a little more in the long run.

cyounghusband: i counted 9 smithore plots for MB compared to your 3

Mega Byte: Which favors you :)

vexorg: big

Mega Byte: And you're producing a nice load of crystite, with pirates out in the first turn, you are now on top.

cyounghusband: 10 only...a small fraction of yours

Mega Byte: So, critisize if you like, but you're manipulating it just as much as me. :)

Mega Byte: Which is all fair. ;)

cyounghusband: oh, I'm all cool with it, this is just gaming

vexorg: what is the possiblility of the pirates?

Mega Byte: ONly 2 times per game max

cyounghusband: about 10 or 15% as far as I can tell

vexorg: thanks

Mega Byte: Their arrival on first turn with 0 production makes the likelihood of their return rather low.

cyounghusband: they've build a lot of randomness that is hard to figure out

cyounghusband: it's kindof a nice thing that they didn't release the source code :)

vexorg: so, after they show up, how long till they hit again?

Round 11 of 12

vexorg: nm

cyounghusband: i think it's a flat out 1/8 or something every round

Mega Byte: It is reduced if they occur once

Mega Byte: And 2 times is maximum

Mega Byte: First turn pirates can only be good for the crystite game.

Mega Byte: I considered going that route, but decided not to.

Mega Byte: But, I haven't been able to get a grip on the crystite market... so, hasn't worked for me this game.

vexorg: you;ve spent much time on this

Mega Byte: My value will drop heavily next turn, as the SO is going to be less that the previous round, with store havin 17 units

Mega Byte: Unless the store burns out

cyounghusband: this is my 10th game or so

Mega Byte: Yeah... game over for me now.

Mega Byte: No bad event on round 12

Mega Byte: As predicted, CY, you win.

cyounghusband: it's been odd not to have the store stock burn out...I've definitely seen that happen 3 times in one game, and that changes the game a fair bit as well, also makes it interesting

Mega Byte: Might as well sell. It will only be less next round, since you guys dumped so much into it last round.

Mega Byte: My only chance now is by production, and low cost for crystite, which seems to be working against me as well.

Mega Byte: I made a mistake not selling last round.

Mega Byte: That cut my SO value 1/2

Mega Byte: So, no chance for win now.

cyounghusband: yeah, what I take from this is that if you were more cutthroat earlier pushing the smithore around, you need a huge cash reserve to buy all the other sellers out

Mega Byte: And that was an accident...

Mega Byte: I was calculating, and ran out of time.

vexorg: You did well anyway MB

Mega Byte: Well is not good enough if you come in 2nd... :)

Mega Byte: When you could have one...

Mega Byte: wone

Mega Byte: won

Mega Byte: :)

vexorg: I don't mind 2nd myself

cyounghusband: i'm not so sure you will lose here... have have more cash and more plots...this crystite production is peanuts to the smithore

vexorg: yeah, crystite is a false prophet in this game

Round 12 of 12

cyounghusband: ha!

vexorg: gg, and I learned some things. thanks guys!

Mega Byte: All in...

Mega Byte: :)

cyounghusband: damn, I was just thinking I should try the same thing int he last round but then I didn't get any food

Mega Byte: I was surprised to still be up at that checkpoint.

Mega Byte: If crystite amount lower than last turn, I could win. If not, it will be close.

Mega Byte: I still think you could pull it out CY

Mega Byte: I took a risk amassing a little CY so I'd have some asset value going into round 12.

Mega Byte: But if it drops, I'm hurt.

cyounghusband: vexorg, this was a 'nice' game...some of the other players seriously abuse the smithore...unless the other players take steps to stop the lead smithore hoarder, they lead smithore producer will win (when the know when the buy it out and throw away mules)

Mega Byte: Yeah

Mega Byte: I tried it, but couldn't get control at the right time.

Mega Byte: We never had a store burn out, and we never had an earthquake...

Mega Byte: No need to sell

Mega Byte: Ouch

Mega Byte: There goes my crystite investment.

Mega Byte: :(

vexorg: thanks for the advice... I was drinkin so my strategy skills are suffering... Had a nice game with you guys tho.

Mega Byte: hehe

Mega Byte: Yeah, I did enjoy this game.\

cyounghusband: well, from what I've learned, if you are going to do that, you need to pass on the early land sales in order to have the cash in round 4 or so

Mega Byte: That's one strategy.

Mega Byte: I use a differnt one...

cyounghusband: yeah, it was good stuff

Mega Byte: But looking at production, I might be ok...

cyounghusband: i think so

Mega Byte: I think it will be about a 1,000 point game.

Mega Byte: Which is very close.

vexorg: what is the factor of randomness in this game?

Game Over. Your progress has been saved.

Mega Byte: 1200

cyounghusband: good question vexorg!

Mega Byte: :)

Mega Byte: Fandomness of what?

cyounghusband: gg

Mega Byte: Each element is differnt.

Mega Byte: Randomness*

Mudd: thanks guys

Mega Byte: Not a flash colony score, but it was a good game.

Mega Byte: Thanks everyone

vexorg: I'm dull just now, but I know which items actually count... good game gents! See you around!

cyounghusband: yeah, but high colony scores I also hate...as it takes that last price of the smithore...which I believe is not a real measure of a colony, just an internal consumable

cyounghusband: since presumably the next door colony could be priced at 50

Mudd left the game

Mega Byte: Well, it takes the last price of all of them.

Mudd was disconnected

Mega Byte: have recently been considering trying to control food market instead...

vexorg: Actually, a low colony score might indicate a high degree of competition.. cul!

Mega Byte: It might be just as easy to manipluate as SO/ especially if you get the river plots.

vexorg left the game

Mega Byte: Haven't tried this yet. Will play against some bots and see how it goes.

vexorg was disconnected

cyounghusband: yes... I like the idea of the crystite/cash, since that is an export and clearly is of value to the colone